Friday, June 16, 2017

Last
week, we finished with the Tribes moving upon the direction and authority of
HASHEM Yisborach. Hindsight is better in most cases than foresight. Perhaps good
foresight is better. When Moshe sent out the spies, everybody knew that Yisrael
acted on Hanhagah HASHEM (guidance). When the cloud went up or the pillar of
fire guided them they moved. Each of the men chosen even if they were political
figures “everyone a prince among them”, and every tribe (politically correct),
they were not checked for Lashon HaRa (security clearance against gossip and
leaks). PC Princes might not have been checked other Midos (personal quality).
In short, there was not real quality security clearance. We only see that the
two spies that really succeeded were from the two tribes that produce the
Moshiach Ben Yosef and the Moshiach Ben David. All the other tribes failed.

Yehoshua
Ben Nun learned from this failure and we see that before Yericho was captured,
he sent out quality spies in a hush-hush operation. He sent out the best and
most G-D fearing. He sends out trusted and proven Calev and the zealous and
proven Pinchas. So in the end, Am Yisrael learned how to organize a spy agency.

13:1
And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 2 'Send thou men, that they may spy out
the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel; of every tribe of
their fathers shall ye send a man, everyone a prince among them.'

Send
for yourself men: Why is
the section dealing with the spies juxtaposed with the section dealing with
Miriam? Because she was punished over matters of slander, for speaking against
her brother, and these wicked people witnessed [it], but did not learn their
lesson. — [Midrash Tanchuma Shelach 5] Send
for yourself: According
to your own understanding. I am not commanding you, but if you wish, you may
send. Since the Israelites had come [to Moses] and said, “Let us send men ahead
of us,” as it says, “All of you approached me…” (Deut. 1:22), Moses
took counsel with the Shechinah . He [God] said, “I told them that it is good,
as it says, ‘I will bring you up from the affliction of Egypt…’
(Exod. 3:17). By
their lives! Now I will give them the opportunity to err through the words of
the spies, so that they will not inherit it.” - [Midrash Tanchuma
5]

Rashi
notes that it is a voluntary matter as the people approached Moshe and he then
asked the tribes. It was not the same as the scouts that Yehoshua would send out
upon entrance into Eretz Yisrael.

אִ֣ישׁ אֶחָד֩ אִ֨ישׁ אֶחָ֜דeach man
was supposed to be independent and not dependent on the next. In reality, ten
banded together like one man Ish.

3
And Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the commandment of
the LORD; all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel. … 16 These
are … the men that Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the
son of Nun Joshua.

Moshe
combined the letter Yud to the Hey of his name so G-D, KAH was with him. While
Calev prayed at the grave of the Avos in Chevron. The rest fell into the pit.
They did not remember or learn from what happened to
Miriam.

17
And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them: 'Get you
up here into the South, and go up into the mountains; 18 and see the land, what
it is; and the people that dwells therein, whether they are strong or weak,
whether they are few or many;

That
was the wrong thing to look for but rather how to infiltrate and destroy their
cities by natural means so as to not depend on miracles. However, we see in any
event with Yericho miracles did happen and in Ha Ai, it was tactics that lured
the enemy into a routed Yisrael while the ambush burned the city to the
ground.

19
and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad; and what
cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds;

If
you are getting the land from HASHEM it must be good!

20
and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is wood therein,
or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land.' Now the
time was the time of the first-ripe grapes.

It
will be called the land flowing with milk and honey so why the first half of the
Pasuk. Bring back the tremendous fruit should have encouraged. However we see
the extreme tall “gigantic men” aka Anak which scared the 10
spies.

21
So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob,
at the entrance to Hamath.

This
is in northern Syria close enough to Iraq. (Previously I thought it was Hamat
Geder which is the triangle of Syria-Israel-Yarden but this is not
so.)

22
And they went up into the South, and came unto Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and
Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. Now Hebron was built seven years
before Zoan in Egypt. 23 And they came
unto the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of
grapes, and they bore it upon a pole between two; they took also of the
pomegranates, and of the figs.

Tisha
B’Av is the time for grapes and figs but the pomegranates must have been unripe.

24
That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the
children of Israel cut down from thence.

The
valley was named after Avraham’s friend between Schem and Beer Sheva or
Chevron-Beer Sheva and not the modern Negev area close to
Gaza.

25
And they returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days. 26 And they
went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the
children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back
word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the
land.

Emancipated
slaves did not have a press core or spokesman. The problem is that if you are
sent out to spy you are supposed report to the commander who sent you and let
him then redistribute the information. This was the error that proved fatal for
the 10 spies on that very day and for the congregation over 38 plus
years.

27
And they told him, and said: 'We came unto the land whither thou sent us, and
surely it flows with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.

With
every lie one is forced to say a little truth otherwise the lie would not be
believed.

28
Howbeit the people that dwell in the land are fierce
…

Hey
do you remember what HASHEM did against 600 chariots and more Egyptian foot
soldiers that pursued you? Where are they now? You defeated by looking
heavenward the Amalek. So what are you so scared of? Stop the slave mentality,
you have had a year of practice in skills of war in the desert. You are an army.
However, there was another problem. In the desert they were princes. When they
would enter the land, they would be ordinary farms like their neighbors from the
tribe. This is called in modern Hebrew holding onto your seat in the Knesset.

30
And Caleb stilled the people toward Moses, and said: 'We should go up at once,
and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.'

The
first and foremost fighters in the army would be from Yehuda and Calev was one
of the people under Nachshon.

31
But the men that went up with him said: 'We are not able to go up against the
people; for they are stronger than we.' …we were in our own sight
as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.'

It
is a good thing for modern Israel that we did not think like this in 5708, the
Six Day War and until now. The spies felt like grasshoppers not that a human
could be so relatively tall for the calcium in the bones could not support
giants of this size. There is a physical limit how tall a giant could be unless
the bones were composed of a more metallic substance.

14:1
And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept
that night.

This
occurred on the 9th of Av and they cried for no good reason. By your
lives said HASHEM I will give you reasons to cry on this
night!

2
And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron; and the
whole congregation said unto them: 'Would that we had died in the land of Egypt!
or would we had died in this wilderness! 3 And wherefore doth the LORD bring us
unto this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be a
prey; were it not better for us to return into Egypt?' … 27 'How long shall I
bear with this evil congregation, that keep murmuring against Me? I have heard
the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they keep murmuring against Me.
28 Say unto them: As I live, says the LORD, surely as ye have spoken in Mine
ears, so will I do to you: 29 your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness, and
all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years
old and upward, ye that have murmured against Me; 30 surely ye shall not come
into the land, concerning which I lifted up My hand that I would make you dwell
therein, save Caleb the son of Yephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But your
little ones, that ye said would be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall
know the land which ye have rejected.

As
much as HASHEM is patient with Rav Chessed this time the Am went too far and the
10 spies died on the spot along with some others. The rest would become
carcasses over 40 years. This is followed by various sacrifices and against
blasphemy.

Right
behind blasphemy is Shabbos violation both in the Decalogue and in our
Parsha:

…
32 And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man
gathering sticks upon the Sabbath day. 33 And they that found him gathering
sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. 34 And
they put him in ward, because it had not been declared what should be done to
him. … 35 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'The man shall surely be put to death;
all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.'

I
am glad that we have no Sanhedrin today otherwise we would have to kill so many
Jews. However, the war of Gog and Magog will come upon us like a scorpion that
appears suddenly. I cannot guarantee anything if people do not repent and even
there it must be very sincere with regret.

36
And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with
stones, and he died, as the LORD commanded Moses.

Already
a year after the giving of the Torah Shabbos was being
violated!

37
And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 38 'Speak unto the children of Israel,
and bid them that they make them throughout their generations fringes in the
corners of their garments, and that they put with the fringe of each corner a
thread of blue. 39 And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon
it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye go
not about after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go
astray; 40 that ye may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy unto
your God. 41 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
to be your God: I am the LORD your God.'

Rav
Asher Weiss in hisMinchas
Asheron Chumash asks a very
interesting question. The Gemara says that themitzvahofTzitzisis equal to all otherMitzvosin the Torah [Nedarim 25a]. This is a very
easymitzvahto perform. All a person needs to do is to
go to a Judaica store, buy himself aTallis
Katanfor twenty dollars
and wear them in order to fulfill themitzvahofTzitzis.

The
irony of the fact is — and many people do not know this — that a person is
notrequiredto wearTzitzisat all. The technical requirement of the
mitzvah ofTzitzisis that someone who wears a four-cornered
garment must attachTzitzisto the corners of the garment. If a person
does not wear a four-cornered garment — and technically speaking all the clothes
that we wear today do not have “four corners” — he does not need to wearTzitzis.
Even someone who wears a long Lithuanian style frock (as is common among
manyRoshei
Yeshiva) which has a slit in the back, giving the appearance of a
“four cornered” garment is not required to attach fringes to the frock. This is
because one of the corners is always rounded — check it out next time you see
one who wears such a frock.

Technically
speaking, then, a person does not need to put onTzitzis.
Of course, the Tur writes that any person who has brains in his head will avail
himself of this specialmitzvahbecause of the guarantee that “you will
glance upon them and you will remember all the commandments of the L-rd”. There
is a special Segulahand reward that comes from wearingTzitzisso anyone with any sense of spirituality and
desire for closeness to the Almighty and HisMitzvoswill buy himself a special four-cornered
garment to fulfill this wondrous commandment. However, technically speaking
that is not required.

The
Minchas Asher asks — if this is such a special mitzvah why didn’t the Torah make
it obligatory? We do not say “If you have a pair ofTefillin,
put them on in the morning.” No. Youmustput onTefillinin the morning. Failing to put on Tefillin
makes you in violation of neglecting a positive commandment. Someone who does
not reciteKrias
Shmais in violation of
neglecting a positive commandment. If someone does not hearShofaron Rosh Hashanah, he is in violation of
neglecting a positive commandment. Why then, if on does not put onTzitzisis everything is fine and dandy. How could
this be the case when we are talking about amitzvahthat is “equal in weight to all othermitzvos“?
It is a paradox. It is an anomaly.

Rav
Asher Weiss addresses this issue by quoting a Gemara in Menachos [43b] — Rabbi
Meir used to say: “Greater is the punishment (for not wearing) the white
(threads) than the punishment (for not wearing) theTechelles(threads).” The Torah requires that the
fringes we place on the corners of our garment contain both white threads and
blue-like,Techelles,
threads. Many people say we do not haveTechellestoday so all we have are the white threads.
Techelleswas
always much more expensive and much harder to come by. They need to be made
from the dye of achilazonaquatic creature. Therefore, the Gemara
says that if a person fails to putTechelleson hisTzitzis,
the punishment is not that bad. However, a person who fails to put on the white
threads, which are easy to come by, then the Almighty has a significant
complaint against him.

Rabbi
Meir backs up his statement with an analogy: “This can be compared to an
earthly king who gave instruction to two servants. He asked one servant to
bring back a seal made out of clay and he asked the second servant to bring back
a seal made out of gold. Both were negligent and did not do what they were
asked. Who will receive the greater punishment? Clearly, the servant charged
with bringing back the clay seal, which is readily available, is deserving of
greater punishment than the servant charged with bringing back the hard to
acquire gold seal.”

The
analogy of the Gemara refers toTzitzisas a “seal of clay”. Tosefos there explains
that seals of clay were typically attached to the bodies of slaves to show they
belonged to a particular owner. Likewise, Tosefos writes, ourTzitzisis our “seal” indicating that we too our
slaves. Even though the word “slave” (Eved)
or even “servant” offends the ear and the sensibility of modern man, in Judaism
that is not the case. We take pride in the fact that “avadei
hem” (they are My slaves) [Bamidbar 25:42; 25:55]. We are “servants
of the L-rd.”

How do
we demonstrate that we are servants to the Almighty? This, explains Tosefos in
Menachos [43b; D.H.“Chosam
shel Tit“], is by wearingour“clay seal”. What isour“clay seal?” It is ourTzitzis!

If that
is the case, says the Michas Asher, it is a much bigger statement when someone
volunteers to be the “slave” of the Almighty than when someone is forced into
wearing that mark of slavery. This is whyTzitzisis not an obligatory mitzvah. Tefillin?
Yes. Shofar?
Yes. Matzah?
Yes. However, the whole purpose ofTzitzisis a statement, a demonstration of “I am
Your slave. I accept You as my Master.” If a person is forced to put them on,
the statement is not as loud. It is not as clear. When I go out and
voluntarily buy that pair ofTzitzis,
I am declaring, “Almighty, Iwantto be your slave.”

This
past Shabbos I read two stories that was worth repeating from the Maggid Series
of Books by Rabbi Pessach Krohn Shlita. Illuminations of the
Maggid.

Two
Stories: A dose in time and Emergency flight condensed.

The
names in the story may have been changed. Gideon had a night job. He returned
home after praying. It was May 2016 probably Lag B Omer and the children were
off from school. He decided to sleep in the house of his sister so that his own
children would not disturb him.

He
forgot to shut down his cellphone and Rafi called. I know that your worked all
night but I took a chance that your phone might be open. Somebody in the family
needed medicines from Ashdod and he was in a near-by Moshav without
transportation. He begged Gideon and he agreed.

Gideon
went to the car and saw that he forgotten his baby there asleep. The baby was
red from the heat. Had Rafi not called or he had refused to get the medicine,
the baby would have died. He and his sister used compresses and gave the baby to
drink. As the baby started recovering, he went and delivered the
medicines.

Sometimes
we do a favor for somebody and we save ourselves.

…
Emergency

El
Al 002 was returning to Israel from NY when all of a sudden a baby developed a
strange rash. The young mother showed it to her mother who asked the stewardess
to see if there was a doctor on board. After a short time, the doctor
recommended having an emergency landing and an ambulance waiting. The pilot
announced that there was a medical emergency on board and he began dumping fuel
to land in Shannon Ireland. As the plane was descending all of a sudden Mr. So
and So had trouble breathing and the doctor was again called. She managed to
revive him and the ambulance took him. The baby could wait for the next
ambulance.

Sometimes
HASHEM works miracles. The two stories combined are from pages 155 to 159 (5
pages) and I do injustice and the stories in the book are delightful. If you
have many Seforim Kodesh then it won’t hurt to buy books by Chaim Teller or the
Maggid Series.

…
I also heard two Tephillin Stories and from Rabbi Lieberman Shlita how is
temporarily a Chabad Shaliach to South Africa.

In
WWII a Russian soldier was caught wearing two black boxes and put into solitary
confinement for a month for violating the orders of Comrade Stalin. Upon his
release, the commander told him that those two black boxes saved his life as his
unit during that month was sent into combat and nobody
survived.

Rabbi
Lieberman was already 30-years-old and still not married. He wrote to the Rebbe
who asked him to check his Tephillin. He received his Tephillin back on the same
day that his future wife went to the Mikvah to complete her
conversion!